hosting without the gui

Pocus · #1 October 4th, 2003, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by johan osterman:
If all you want to do is to generate a new turn without any human intervention then it is possible in Windows too. By supplying a few switches you can get Dominions to host and exit without any intervention. The thing that won't work is setting up a graphicsless server for network play.

ok, I will check that. thanks.

PvK · #2 October 4th, 2003, 04:25 PM

dominions.pbw.cc

oooh...

PvK

Pocus · #3 October 4th, 2003, 08:43 PM

I have already a semi private dominions bot (ftp access thru a windows interface to fetch and drop files) running (for french friends), but launching the GUI will surely asks too much for the hosting machine.

Ye I think a dominions pbw (well for me it is stars! autohost that I had in mind) project would be a boon to the communauty (and to the selling figures, hint hint IW)

Johan K · #4 October 5th, 2003, 08:35 AM

I for one would love to see a Pocus' Dominions Autohost!

I believe it would be perfectly possible to do with Dominions and I would gladly try to add some more autohost friendly features if the current ones aren't good enough.

Pocus · #5 October 6th, 2003, 01:35 AM

As of now, my little utility is mostly a graphical&windows interface from which you can send a 2h to a server, get a trn from it, see who submitted his turn (light is green for the players having done that), and read a message from the host indicating when the turn is due. If you can run a windows app, I can send it to you, you will see 2 small french games running

).

I dont think it would ask much time to transform it into a bot capable to launch dominions to process due turns, and send a mail to players (perhaps at most ~50 hours of work, and I'm estimating with big excess IMO).

... *but* time constraints wont enable me to put the needed hours in expanding my little ftp service to a full autohost before say 2 months telling them that the new turn is ready.

(*start of add* : hobby time already spent into beta testing Pax Romana, a game not unlike a blend of Republic of Rome and Imperium Romanum, soon to be released, be sure to check it out. The graphical engine is akin to the ones used in Europa Universalis. Go to http://forum.antikgames.com/ for further informations - *end of add*!).

Also, some players here are from SE IV. There is a play by web service already doing that for Space Empire. Perhaps one of these informed players will convince the authors of SEIV- pbw to expand their hosting utility for Dominions.

Pocus · #6 October 6th, 2003, 01:41 AM

one more problem : this is a windows utility only. I use delphi, which is capable of generating code compatible with linux system (with Kylix on Linux), IF you are only using official components, and I dont know if the FTP services I use are supported by Kylix too.

This is not to say that I dont want to try expanding my utility. If nobody managed to make such a utility within 3 months or so (or if SE IV play by web is not interested to support dominions, hint : talk to PVK, he is a heavy weight in SE IV community

), no problems, I will commit some time to finish mine.

Johan K · #7 October 6th, 2003, 01:08 AM

Yeah, we have a heavy weight SE4 guy in the Dominions forum!

Regarding a dominions pbw I think the largest problem is to integrate everything with a web page. So you can see what games are starting and join a game and that stuff. Hmmm... have to get some seiv.pbw folks to start playing Dominions.